Will Third Trump Surgeon General Nominee be the Charm?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Apr. 30, 2026) — Early Thursday afternoon, President Trump revealed on Truth Social his nomination of Dr. Casey Means for U.S. Surgeon General was withdrawn, attributed to a lack of support from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a medical doctor who has not been wholly supportive of the Trump agenda and, Trump reminded his followers, voted in favor of the second impeachment effort brought by House Democrats.

At that point, Trump was a private citizen and could not be removed from office.

Cassidy is the current chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and has been serving in the upper congressional chamber since 2015.

“For months, Senator Bill Cassidy (of the GREAT State of Louisiana!), a very disloyal person whose ‘TRUMP’ Endorsement got him elected, but later voted to impeach ‘President Trump’ on what has now proven to be a total Hoax and Scam, has stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. Surgeon General,” Trump wrote. “I nominated Casey, a strong MAHA Warrior, at the recommendation of Secretary Kennedy, who understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME! Nevertheless, despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country, such as the rising childhood disease epidemic, increased autism rates, poor nutrition, over-medicalization, and researching the root causes of infertility, and many other difficult medical problems. Casey, thank you for your service to our Nation! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

“MAHA” stands for “Make America Healthy Again.”

Dr. Means’s initial confirmation hearing in front of the HELP Committee was to take place on October 30, but she went into labor, necessitating a postponement.

In November, Dr. Casey Means’s brother Calley became a senior adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.. Together the siblings wrote the 2024 #1 New York Times bestseller, “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.”

On X Calley echoed Trump’s sentiments regarding Cassidy, posting, in part:

…At every step, Casey’s message of hope and empowerment was thwarted by Bill Cassidy.

Bill Cassidy is a mindless avatar for his donors and a blind defender of the status quo system that is profiting from American sickness.

At every turn during Casey’s confirmation, Bill Cassidy worked to delay her and smear her.

For several months last year, Bill Cassidy knew Casey’s due date. He demanded to schedule her hearing on her due date, and at the last minute scheduled it two days later. He could have scheduled it weeks before. Casey ended up having her baby the hour her first hearing was scheduled.

Bill Cassidy worked with Mike Pence’s pharma-funded group to smear Casey in the media as not sufficiently pro-life – when anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of Casey’s message knows it is grounded in a deep respect and awe for the miracle of life.

To Casey’s assertion that Americans should consult with their doctor before taking any medical product, he worked to smear her as “anti-vaccine” for not saying every American should submit their children to mandatory injections without parental or medical input (which is his view).

Bill Cassidy will lose his re-election and immediately work for the pharmaceutical industry who funded his political career. He will be remembered as an inconsequential figure who tried to stop the important and disruptive MAHA conversation President Trump and RFK unleashed.

Because of his constant delay tactics, Casey is being pulled from consideration.

Trump’s nomination of Dr. Means occurred after his first surgeon-general nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was withdrawn last May prior to any Senate hearings taking place. At the time, Trump indicated Nesheiwat would occupy a position within his administration; whether she is doing so or has returned to her previous work is unclear.

Replacing Means as nominee is Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News medical contributor and panelist who attended paved her career in cancer care and prevention.

In his nomination announcement, Trump wrote, “Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments. She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans. Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things for our Country, and help, “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN.”

In a detailed post on his “Malone News” Substack on Thursday, mRNA technology pioneer Dr. Robert W. Malone wrote:

President Trump withdrew the Casey Means nomination yesterday afternoon, blamed Senator Cassidy, and within minutes named Dr. Nicole B. Saphier of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as his third Surgeon General nominee in fifteen months. The first MAHA-base reaction I have seen, online and in my inbox, has been something between “who?” and “Fox News pick – sellout.” I want to push back on the second reaction before it hardens, because the documentary record on Saphier is genuinely more interesting than the press coverage has so far conveyed, and the right MAHA reading of her is not the obvious one.

This piece is a working assessment, not a verdict. The Senate confirmation process is going to surface more than the public record currently shows. What follows is what I have been able to learn in the twenty-four hours since the nomination, the parts of her record that bear directly on MAHA’s questions, and the things I think are worth watching as she goes through the committee.

Dr. Saphier’s most recent Facebook post issued March 12 depicts her in an interview with “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt telling the story of a young boy and his parents seeking a life-saving kidney with a link for anyone interested in becoming a donor.